A Surprise Trip
by autumnprimes
Summary: FP surprises Jughead and Jellybean with a trip to the fair, and Archie comes along too. Fun times and cuteness ensues.
1. Chapter 1

"Alright," said FP Jones, bursting through the trailer door. Jughead flinched, which he could see made his dad sad, but he relaxed when he saw that FP was smiling, and standing straight. He had been sober for almost a week now, but Jug was still worried he would relapse again. He wished he could trust his dad to stay sober, and he tried to, but… this was the fifth time he'd been sober for a week, and none of the other ones had lasted. "I have a surprise for you all. We… are going on a road trip."

"A road trip? Where to, where to?" Jellybean said, jumping up. "Juggie, we're going on a road trip! All together!"

Jug smiled at Jellybean, some of her excitement rubbing off on him. Then he glanced over at his mom, who looked less than pleased at the prospect. "I dunno, honey, I've got a lot of work to do…" she started.

"I got four tickets," FP said, deflating somewhat, but Jughead could feel the tension rising in the room.

"Why don't we invite Archie?" he said, trying to cut through the argument before it could start. It seemed to work; FP considers for a moment, then relaxes.

"Sure, Jug. He's a good friend to you both." Jughead knew that FP's still sore about Archie's dad having fired him, but luckily the feeling hadn't passed on to Archie. Jellybean made a high pitched noise of excitement, and FP smiled at her and lifted her up. "You sure you three kids won't mind spending time with an old man like me?" he asked teasingly.

"Nonono," said Jellybean. Jug could tell she was really excited that FP will be spending time with them. Jughead was a little more reserved about the idea, but Jellybean was still young enough that the idea of spending time together as a family was still a pure one in her brain. It was a little more tainted in Jughead's brain, but he was cautiously optimistic. His dad really did seem to be excited about this outing, and with their mom not coming along there was less chance for a fight to break out. Maybe this really would be a good thing. Spending some time with his currently-sober dad, his sister, and his best friend. A memory to hold onto.

"I'll call Archie," Jughead said, standing up. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," said FP, but he said it a little bit cautiously, as if he was worried about ruining things for Jughead. And it did irritate Jughead and make him a bit anxious - he didn't like surprises, although he knew that Jellybean did.

"It might be hard to get Archie to come if it's a surprise," Jughead said, his arms crossed - not aggressively, but subconsciously closing himself off - with an undertone to his voice that he hoped Jellybean would miss but his father would pick up on. He was trying to give FP a way to tell him where they're going without ruining things for Jellybean. If FP told Archie what their destination was, he knew Archie would tell him.

FP did pick up on it. "Jellybean, you wait here with your mother. I'll invite Archie and let him know what it is but for you," he scruffled her hair a little, "I still want it to be a surprise." Jellybean grinned at him, then climbed into her mother's lap and gave her a hug.

"I'll call him and give you the phone, then," Jughead said, relaxing a little. He walked out of the trailer, wanting a bit of privacy, and dialed Archie's number. He saw FP come out behind him, but FP stayed a little way back, waiting for a signal from Jughead that he was ready.

The phone rang a few times before Archie picked up. "Hey Jug, what's up?" he heard on the other side of the phone; presumably Archie saw who it was on his caller display.

"Hey, Arch," Jughead said. "Still got no plans for today?"

"I am _so bored_ , Jug. Please tell me you have plans you want me to join in on." Jughead can hear the sound of a ball bouncing in the background, and imagines that Archie is lying on his bed bouncing a ball off the wall like he does sometimes. The image makes him grin a little.

"I absolutely do." Jughead lowers his voice a little. "You'll never believe this, Arch. My dad is taking us on a _trip_."

"A trip?" Jug hears the ball stop bouncing and covers scruffling; Archie has probably sat up in bed. "What, just… out of nowhere?"

"Yep," Jug says. "It's your job to find out what it is and tell me, by the way. He's saying it's a surprise."

"I'm coming?" Archie asks.

"Yep. And I'm going to hand over the phone to my dad so he can tell you where you're coming. Make sure to ask before you say yes."

Archie laughs. "Alright Jug, I get it, I have to be your spy. Message received. Will do."

"I knew I could count on you to have my back," Jughead responds appreciatively, and slightly teasingly. "Alright, I'm giving you to my dad now." He looks over at where his dad is hovering; he's pretty sure that his dad could hear him, but he's also pretty sure that his dad will tell Archie anyway. His dad does things like that a lot - little things behind his back that he probably thinks Jughead won't notice. Jughead does notice. It's what he holds on to during the bad days, his proof that his dad does care about him when his dad's not showing it.

Jughead hands off the phone to his dad and heads back into the trailer. His mom's off doing something in another room by now, so it's just Jellybean waiting for him. She grins at him, and he scruffles her hair. "Hey, Beanie," he says. "You excited?"

"A ROAD TRIP!" she says by way of confirmation. "With TICKETS."

"Yep," Jughead says, glad that at least one of them is excited by the mystery of it. "Any guesses what it is?"

Jellybean shakes her head furiously, and doesn't even make any guesses. She doesn't _want_ to guess what it is; if she was right, then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore. Jughead knows that; he was mostly just teasing her.

A moment later FP comes in, holding out Jughead's phone. "He says he'll come," he says, as Jughead takes the phone back. "You should go pick him up." Unsaid in that statement is that FP doesn't want to go to the Andrews house. He might not have hard feelings towards Archie, but the house is still a painful place for him to be. Too many memories.

"Alright, Dad," Jughead says, and he smiles a bit, getting hopeful in spite of himself. "Should I meet you back here?"

"How about we meet at Pops," FP replies instead, suddenly inspired. The place is between their trailer and the Andrews household anyway. "We'll get some milkshakes for the road."

"Sounds good, Dad," says Jug, while in the background Jellybean makes another high-pitched noise of excitement. Jughead rubs his ears a little. "If I have hearing loss when I'm older, it's gonna be your fault," he teases Jellybean, who sticks her tongue out at him.

"Hurry hurry!" Jellybean says. "I want to goooo." She pushes Jughead towards the door. Jughead lets himself be pushed, even though she's so much smaller than him that he could easily have resisted. Once he's outside, he walks towards Archie's house more quickly than his usual casual amble. In spite of himself, he finds that he's excited too.

Once he's out of the trailer park, Jughead messages Archie. There isn't really any reason for him to walk all the way over to Archie's house; they can meet halfway and still have plenty of time to discuss whatever Jughead's dad told Archie before getting to Pops.

Archie texts back right away and they meet at their usual midpoint. Jughead slows down when Archie's in sight; he doesn't want Archie to get used to him walking quickly, after all. Archie might get _expectations_. He waves and goes back to his usual amble, hands in his pockets, and Archie walks towards him. "So," Jughead says when he gets within speaking distance. "Spill the beans. What's the surprise?"

"The state fair," says Archie. "Your dad says he saw an advertisement for it while he was out on a job, and took a detour to buy you all tickets."

"The state fair, huh," says Jughead, musing. "I've never been. What's it like?"

Archie shrugs. "Rides, games, cotton candy… It's fun, Jug. I'll show you around." Archie's been with his family a few times, but he knows that Jughead's has been in a tougher financial situation than his. He's a bit surprised that FP could afford for them to go now, but he's happy, too. The fair might not be exactly up Jughead's alley, but Archie has a hard time imagining _anyone_ having a bad time at the fair. "It'll be great for Jellybean," he adds, knowing that will help Jughead feel positively about it.

"Good wholesome American family fun," Jughead says, a quirk in his smile showing that he's mostly joking with his sarcasm. "An important part of your standard American family."

Archie laughs. "Come on, Jug, it's not that bad. It's standard for a reason - most people think it's great."

"You should know by now that I'm not most people, Archie," Jughead says goodnaturedly.

"Well, _I_ am," Archie retorts, "in this sense at least. And I'm not _normally_ most people. You might surprise yourself."

"We'll see about that," Jughead says, with a joking challenge in his voice.

"You're on," Archie jokes back. "We'll just see if I can't get you to have fun."

"Challenge accepted," says Jughead.

"Wait, does this mean you're going to actively _try_ not to have fun?"

"Yep," Jughead says, grinning. "You just shot your whole theory in the foot."

"Aww…."

When they get to Pops, FP is leaning against the car, holding a tray with three milkshakes and one empty spot. Jellybean is sitting on his shoulders, holding the fourth milkshake in her hands and sipping it slowly. "Ready to go, boys?" he asks as they approach.

"Ready when you are, dad," Jughead says. He might have joked with Archie about trying to be miserable during this trip, but he really does want it to be a good time. It's been a long time since he's seen his dad looking this excited and this put-together at the same time. It's been a long time since him and his dad have spent any time together. A long time since they've smiled at each other like this. Jughead feels something building inside him that feels suspiciously like happiness. "One of those mine?"

"You betcha," FP says. "Strawberry or chocolate? I wasn't sure which you were in the mood for today. And there's a strawberry for you, Archie," he says, handing Archie the strawberry one.

"I think today's a strawberry day," Jughead says, a smile sneaking onto his face. He's surprised that his dad knows his favourite milkshake flavours. But when his dad's in a good place like this, he often surprises Jughead with how much he knows.

"Chocolate for me, then," FP says, handing Jughead the other strawberry milkshake. Jellybean has a strawberry one too. "I guess Chocolate's the 'adult' flavour," he says, smiling.

"Today, anyway. Not when I drink it," Jughead says back, the smile fully settling onto his face. This is the father he loves, the one he hopes for, the one he wishes was around always. He can already tell that today is going to be a day to hold on to. There's still that shred of doubt - it never goes away, it's been proven right one too many times - but today feels real. Even now, it doesn't feel like they're pretending. It feels like today, maybe, this can be real.

It's not until much, much later that Jughead realized that it was exactly one week before his birthday, and wondered if that was something his father had done on purpose. Trying to give him a birthday party that wasn't on his birthday. Trying to give him a positive memory around this time of year for once.

And although he would never ask his dad, or know for sure, that was exactly what FP was trying to do.


	2. Chapter 2

It's about a half hour drive. Jughead's subdued; he's sitting up front with his dad, helping with navigation, but as much as it feels like some nice father-son bonding time, Jughead keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop. Archie and Jellybean have no such qualms. The two of them sit in the back, playing road trip games like "I spy" and occasionally having tickle competitions. It makes Jughead smile. Archie's always been so good with Jellybean. It's nice to have someone so cheerful around her. Jughead worries sometimes that he's setting a bad example for her with his gloominess; Archie's upbeat, naive nature is a good counterbalance.

Since FP is still keeping up the illusion of this being a surprise, he only tells Jughead the town they're heading to. They can't afford a data plan for Jughead's phone, so he's navigating with the old paper map way. Jughead actually doesn't mind; he likes maps and pathfinding, which feels to him somewhere between a treasure hunt and a puzzle. When they get to the right town, Jughead's worried his dad is going to have to ask directions somewhere; they've had trouble before where his dad asking for directions has turned into his dad fighting with people he finds 'unhelpful'. Of course, that was before he started trying to sober up, but still…

They're in luck, though. Once they get within a couple of miles of the town, they start seeing signs advertising the fair. Archie - and thus presumably FP - wasn't quite right calling it a State Fair; it's actually just a county fair. Still, it's a bigger fair then Jughead's ever been to. "Hey Jellybean," Jughead says, a slow smile growing on his face. Her and Archie are playing some complicated form of Rock Paper Scissors that he's been half-listening to Archie teaching her for the past fifteen minutes; he knows she might have missed the sign, especially since he hasn't heard any high-pitched noises from back there. "I spy with my little eye something that will make you squeal."

Jelly bean looks up, pouting. "I don't squ-EEEEEEEEEE," she says, cutting off her sentence with a high-pitched noise of excitement best described (in spite of her protests) as a squeal, as she notices the sign. "IS THAT WHERE WE'RE GOING!?" she asks in a voice so loud that Jughead and FP both rub their ears, while grinning.

"It's still a surprise," FP says, but Jellybean can tell the answer from his tone.

"IT IS IT IS IT IS WE'RE GOING TO THE FAAAAAIIIIIIR!" Jellybean says, dancing in her seat in excitement. "JUUUUGGGIIIE WE'RE GOING TO THE FAIIIIIR IT'S LIKE THE DRIVE-IN BUT BETTER WE CAN EAT COTTON CANDY AND GO ON RIDES AND PLAY GAMES AND -" Jellybean pauses, not sure what else happens at fairs. "And… other things?" she says questioningly.

Archie grins. "They've got a demolition derby, too. That's where people take old banged-up cars and crash them into each other. And they've got animals - a petting zoo, some horse riding. Sometimes they have clowns or even circus acts, too." He pauses, remembering what his dad had said to him when he told him where he was going. "A lot of it costs extra money, but my dad gave me a bunch of money to spend at the fair, and we can all share it."

"Not a chance," says FP. "This is our trip. You want to do something, I'll pay for it." His voice isn't aggressive, not yet, but it's firm enough that Archie drops it. Maybe they'll split up at some point and he'll be able to pay for things without Mr. Jones noticing.

"That's great, dad, thanks," Jughead says quickly, but he glances back at Archie in the mirror to let him know that he's thinking the same thing; they should find some way to let Archie pay for most things. Jughead knows his dad has a tendency to spend money he doesn't have; it's one of the many things about which he hears his mom yelling at his dad all the time.

When they get to the fair, FP hands out the passes. They're actually vouchers; when they turn them in at the gates, they not only get admission, but wristbands for unlimited rides. When Jellybean gets hers put on, she frowns a little, tugging at it like she's testing whether or not it will fall off. She looks up at the gate attendant who put it on her. "It's too loose," she says accusatory.

"It will be if you keep tugging at it," Jughead retorts. Jellybean sticks her tongue out at him, and he sticks his tongue out in return.

"Don't worry, Jellybean," Archie says. "They can't make it too tight or it'll cut off your circulation and make your hand go blue. If you lose it I'll give you mine."

Jellybean's eyes go wide, and she starts staring at her hand to see if there are any hints of blue on it yet. Archie laughs, scruffling her hair, and Jughead smiles. He takes an arm out of his coat pocket and holds it out for his own wristband, thinking that in reality, if Jellybean loses her wristband, _he'd_ be the one to give up his own. He's a little skeptical about this whole "rides" thing. It sounds rather like the sort of thing he'd stand to the side and stare at while _other_ people did it. He has a feeling Archie's not going to let him do that today.

"Alright, kids," says FP once they all have their wristbands on, "Where should we start?"

"COTTON CANDY!" Jellybean insists, instantly forgetting about the wristband dilemma as she points at the stand near the front gate. She runs over to it, which makes Jughead sigh and run after her, worried about losing her in the crowd.

FP lets them run off. Archie looks like he's going to join Jug and Jellybean for a moment, but something about the way FP is walking makes Archie stay with him. The two walk in silence through the crowd for a while, before Archie clears his throat and speaks up. "Dad'll be disappointed in me if I don't spend some of the money he gave me," Archie says cautiously. "And Mom'll tease me that I didn't have enough fun if I didn't spend any money."

"Listen, Red, I know you're trying to be nice, but this is something _I'm_ doing for my boy and my girl. I don't hold any hard feelings to you, you understand, but I'm not going to be taking charity from your old man. You insist on paying your own way, fine, but my kids are here on _my_ money, not Fred's."

"I understand, Mr Jones," Archie says quickly. Being able to pay his own way is an improvement, at least, and makes him feel less guilty, although that's somewhat counterbalanced by mention of the troubles between Jug's father and his own. Neither of them know all the details of what happened there, but they both know that the two used to be good friends and business partners, until some sort of argument had ended with Jug's dad out of a job and Archie's dad the sole owner of the business. Jug's dad had spiralled after that, and even though Jug had tried to hide it from Archie, Archie had seen enough to feel guilty about it. He felt like he should have been able to change his dad's mind somehow, even though he hadn't even heard about the fight until it was too late.

By the time they get to the cotton candy stand, Jughead and Jellybean are near the front of the line. FP and Archie join them, and soon the three kids have a cone of cotton candy each; Jellybean, in fact, has two. Jughead smiles wryly as he thinks about how much energy she's going to have after all that sugar, but he doesn't say anything. He's glad she's having such a good time already.

"What next?" FP says, in a voice that Jughead thinks is best described as his 'being a stereotypical good dad' voice. It kind of makes him wince. It's the exact same type of fake, pretending-everything's-fine-and-they're-normal voice that had always made him hate his birthday. He can feel his mood dropping, even as Jellybean yells something about rides.

Archie and FP both notice at the same time. Archie starts to say something about how Jughead needs to try the roller coaster, but when FP starts speaking again he goes quiet. FP's got a different tone of voice now, one that's more sincere and soft, without the fake bounce of his previous words. It gets through to Jughead in a way that his previous voice didn't. "Jellybean's not going to be tall enough for the big kid rides, but you two probably are. Why don't you boys go spend some time going on the roller coasters and such together, and I'll take Jellybean to the kiddie rides?"

Jughead raises his eyes to his dad's, and his gratefulness shines through. "Thanks, dad," he says, although he feels sad and guilty at the same time; he _does_ want to spend time with his dad, just not… not in that fake, happy family way. "We'll meet up later, alright? Maybe go to one of the shows together. That… that demolition derby, or something." The demolition derby honestly doesn't sound like much fun to Jughead, but it sounds like the sort of thing his dad would like, and his dad's always easier to get along with when he's at something he likes.

"Alright, son, let's do that," FP says, in the same quiet, sincere voice. He looks at Archie. "You two boys stay together, you hear? I don't want to hear about one of you getting lost or abducted or something. And you give me a call right away if anything happens. Otherwise we'll meet back here in…" he looks at his watch, then glances over at the timetable near the doorway. "Demolition derby starts in two hours. Think that's enough time to get in all the rides you want?"

"Considering that I'm not into rides, yeah," says Jughead, with a sardonic smile, and Archie playfully shoves him.

"Come on, man, you've never even _tried_ rides. You can't say you don't like something until you've tried it," Archie says.

"Sure I can," says Jughead, a tiny grin starting to grow on his face. "I just did."

"You make sure he goes on some rides," FP says, pointing a finger at Archie with a look that's half joking and half serious. "I want my son having a good time at this fair."

"Jug, you _have_ to go on the rides so you can tell me what the big scary roller coasters are like," Jellybean pipes in.

"Yeah, alright," says Jughead, his voice implying that he only half means it, but Jug knows he's going to go on the rides. He just can't let on that he's interested in them. It would go against his moody persona. "You have fun on the little kiddy rides, alright?"

"Just because they're little doesn't mean they're worse," Jellybean says, jokingly defensive. Jug smiles at her and crouches down to give her a hug. She gives him a big hug back and a kiss on the cheek, then takes her dad's hand. The two of them walk off to the kids' section.

When they're out of earshot, Archie turns to Jughead. "Alright man, but for real, we're going to go on the biggest, scariest roller coasters and all the best rides, plus any new ones I don't recognize. It's going to be awesome."

"Alright, Arch," says Jug, a note of skepticism in his voice, but he's smiling, too. "I trust you. The fun factor of my afternoon is in your hands."

"Al-RIGHT!" Archie says, gently punching Jughead's arm in excitement. "First one's called the Twister. You ready?"

Jughead grins skeptically. "I don't know. Am I?" he laughs, but he walks alongside Archie, and walk towards the line. "If I puke, I'm puking over you," Jughead adds, looking at the number of spins awaiting them.

"Aww, come on, man, don't do that," Archie groans. "Aim over the side if you've gotta puke."

"I am _absolutely_ going to aim at _you_ ," Jughead retorts, grinning. Archie grins back, and the two of them continue to rib each other as they move slowly towards the front of the line.


End file.
